Jeff Richardson

Since 1983, Jeff Richardson has dedicated most of his life to ensuring the provision of social services to those in need – in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors – through health promotion, education and advocacy, with a particular emphasis on HIV/AIDS. Most recently, he was the Vice President of the AbbVie Foundation, where he oversaw its international programs. Prior to AbbVie, Jeff was at the Abbott Fund, where he led the effort to establish the Fund’s first international giving program, which focused on helping children and families in resource-poor countries hit hard by HIV/AIDS. Created de novo, the Global HIV/AIDS programs, as of the fall of 2017, have served more than 10 million people with an investment of more than $350 million.

Prior to joining the Abbott Fund, he was a Managing Director of Burson Marsteller’s Global Healthcare Practice. Earlier Jeff ran two state agencies for then-Indiana Governor Evan Bayh – the 900-person Department of Human Services and the 13,000-person Family and Social Services Administration (Departments of Human Services, Welfare and Mental Health). He was also Executive Director of GMHC, the nation’s largest HIV/AIDS organization, where he began as a volunteer ten years earlier – in 1983. Jeff started his career in Eli Lilly’s Public Affairs group.

Jeff received his three degrees – JD, MPA and BA – from Indiana University-Bloomington, from which he has received several honors. Jeff was the first full-time university student elected to the 9-person Bloomington City Council (four-year term). He taught Health Policy as an adjunct professor at City University of New York in the graduate political science department; Public Affairs at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs; and was a guest lecturer at Northwestern University on global health and development issues for ten years. Since retiring from AbbVie in early 2016, Jeff is spending much of his time volunteering with various global health-related causes.